Women in Digital's Long Lunch: The Path to Progress

Women in Digital is passionate about harnessing the power of technology to solve problems and create a better future for all. Being driven by this purpose, we have become a cornerstone of the Australian tech community over the last 8 years with the key focus of improving gender diversity in the industry.We connect humans in the industry through quarterly networking and panel events. We educate each other through telling the stories and sharing the careers of women in digital. And, we empower people and companies through our industry-leading annual awards program, the WIDAwards.To learn more about Women in Digital,click here.T﻿o read our Founding Story,click here.Sometimes though, it’s nice to talk to an actual human as well (hey, that’s why we built this organisation). If you are wanting to connect with the Women in Digital team directly,contact us here.

Women in Digital

How can we be better allies on the road to gender diversity? Join us for networking, great food + an expert panel you won't soon forget!

Hilton Brisbane

W﻿omen in Digital's 2023 Long LunchThe Path to Progress: How we can be better Allies on the Road to Gender DiversityP﻿owered by <a href="https://www.cisco.com/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Cisco</a>Women in Digital is thrilled to announce our next in-person event, The Path to Progress.This event is all about how we ALL have a role to play when it comes to achieving gender diversity, equity and inclusion in Australia’s digital workforce. We are bringing together leaders, change-makers and passionate diversity champions to discuss how we can work together to create gender parity. What do we know to be true?<ul><li><a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2022/09/progress-on-the-sustainable-development-goals-the-gender-snapshot-2022" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Gender parity is estimated to be 300 years away</a> globally unless we can find key levers to accelerate it</li><li><a href="https://www.wgea.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/WGEA-Gender-Equality-Scorecard-2022.pdf" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Only 1 in 5 boards have gender balance and only 22.3% of CEOs are women</a></li><li><a href="https://www.wgea.gov.au/newsroom/more-women-at-the-top-proves-better-for-business" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Gender diversity in the workforce not only builds more profitable businesses</a> but is a key goal in the <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/development-agenda/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">United Nations’ Sustainable Development Agenda</a> and is inextricably linked to the success of the other 16 goals</li></ul>What we also know to be true is gender parity does not need to be an ‘us’ vs ‘them’ discussion but really, we are better when we work on a path to progress together. We know this because: <ul><li><a href="https://www.bain.com/insights/better-together-increasing-male-engagement-in-gender-equality-efforts-in-australia/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Women want men to engage more in gender diversity</a></li><li><a href="https://www.bain.com/insights/better-together-increasing-male-engagement-in-gender-equality-efforts-in-australia/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Men want to be more involved and engaged in helping to improve gender diversity</a></li><li><a href="https://www.bain.com/insights/better-together-increasing-male-engagement-in-gender-equality-efforts-in-australia/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Gender equality won’t be achieved without significant male engagement</a></li></ul>So, we have pulled together a panel of some of the best leaders in the Australian digital industry to share, learn and discuss how their organisations work to improve gender diversity and what we can all do to pave the way to progress. This important discussion will include questions to learn: <ul><li>How they made gender parity a top priority within their organisations</li><li>Lessons and failures as they pave their way to progress </li><li>Key levers they have found affect the most positive change </li><li>Insights on how we can work together to build a better industry for all </li><li>How we can encourage more women to pursue leadership pathways </li><li>And as usual, questions from you at the end. </li></ul>As you will notice, this is an equally represented panel with both women and men involved because as one of our speakers Chio Verastegui says, “the issue of gender parity must become gender equal itself if we are to effect change.” Event format: 11:45am Doors open12:00pm Networking 12:30pm Guests to be seated 12:45pm Event commences1:00pm Panel commences 1:40pm Audience Q&amp;A 2:00pm Event formalities finish. Networking. 3:00pm Event close Event details:Location: Hilton Brisbane - 190 Elizabeth St, Brisbane City QLD 4000Date: Friday 11 August 2023 12:00pm - 3:00pm AESTGeneral Admission: $180 + Fees/GST || Table of 10 $1,700 + Fees/GSTWID Members: $162 + Fees/GST || Corporate Members to contact WID to secure tableInclusions: Panel, 2-course sit-down lunch, 3 hour beverage package Please provide full names + emails and any dietaries of guests by the 4th of August.C﻿harity PartnerW﻿omen in Digital is proud to partner with the Children's Hospital Foundation to support the incredible work they do fundraising for cutting-edge equipment, vital research and on-the-ground support for kids with all illnesses, injuries and conditions.W﻿e encourage your support in donating generously at the event or via the <a href="https://childrens.org.au/donate/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Children's Hospital Foundation website</a>.S﻿peakers:(﻿MC) <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-jones-1a0a4716b/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Kate Jones</a> - Executive Director at Tech Council of Australia &amp; Advisor at SodaKate Jones is Queensland's former Minister for a range of portfolios including State Development, Education, Tourism &amp; Major Events, Innovation and Climate Change. When Kate was first sworn-in in 2009, she was the youngest-ever Queensland Government Minister. Currently, she is the Executive Director at Tech Council of Australia, an Advisor of Strategy &amp; Engagement at Soda, and the ARL Commissioner for the National Rugby League.Kate is committed to building innovation in Queensland by attracting new investment, getting more women into tech, growing entrepreneurialism and supporting local startups to scale up and think global! We are thrilled to have her moderate this panel.Kate is a graduate of the Queensland University of Technology for Journalism and holds a Master in Environmental Law from Australian National University.<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/chioverastegui/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Chio Verastegui</a> - Head of Strategy &amp; Growth of LeapFrog Investments C﻿hio Versategui is the Head of Strategy and Growth at LeapFrog Investments. She came to LeapFrog with 18 years of strategy, operations, and leadership experience, both as an advisor and as an executive. Chio’s experience spans a dozen industries, including airlines, hospitality, retail, telco, consumer goods, insurance, banking and utilities, across North America and Latin America, Australia as well as West and Southern Africa.Prior to that, Chio was a partner at Bain &amp; Company. During her 15+ years at the firm, Chio largely focused on customer-driven transformations, combining customer strategy, loyalty, operating model and execution delivery. During her last 2 years at Bain, she led the Australia Results Delivery practice.Chio is passionate about gender diversity, having co-authored Bain/Chief Executive Women research and an ongoing benchmarking study, as well as creating the GBS Sponsorship Program at Telstra.Chio earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Management at ITESM in Mexico City and an MBA from INSEAD. She is also a former TechnoServe Fellow.<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/micreid/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Michael Reid</a> - Chief Executive Officer of MegaportMichael joins Megaport from Cisco, where he led the pure SaaS Network Visibility Business, ThousandEyes, as Chief Revenue Officer. In that time, he transformed the go-to-market, scaling the team from 150 to nearly 400, expanding into many new countries, and growing the ARR by 2.4 times, making it the largest Cloud, SaaS, and Internet Visibility platform in the world.Previously Michael spearheaded multiple acquisitions as the WW Head of Sales residing in California, US. Michael is known for his passionate and transformative Sales and Global go-to-market leadership focusing on Culture, People, and Execution. He previously led the Northern Region of Australia for Cisco and, prior to that, led Cisco Sales in Australia’s largest Financial Services customers. A﻿s a leader, Michael Reid is helping move the needle on gender diversity in the industry and changing the gender makeup of the organisations and teams he works in. In addition, Michael was an early champion of our very own Women in Digital Awards. Michael holds a Degree in Aerospace Engineering from QUT and was CEO Magazine Sales Executive of the Year 2019.<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/shadenmohamed/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">S﻿haden Mohamed </a>- Chief Customer &amp; Marketing Officer, ex Google | Expedia | SilverChefShaden Mohamed is the former Chief Customer Officer at SilverChef leading their Global CX team in Product, Marketing and Customer Success.Recognised by iMedia as one of the world’s top 25 marketing innovators of 2015, Shaden has over 15 years’ consulting and corporate experience in sales, operations, strategy, marketing and ecommerce across APAC, North America and the Middle East.Prior to her role at SilverChef, Shaden worked at Google, Expedia and the Wotif Group, Backcountry.com, Auto &amp; General and The Travel Corporation over which time she has consulted for a number of Fortune 500 companies across several industry verticals including travel, tech, telco, retail, FMCG, media, finance and automotive.As a business leader, a first-generation Australian and a woman of colour, Shaden has built a formidable career as a woman in digital and is now paving the way for future women in digital while being an incredibly strong advocate for DEI.S﻿haden holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Media Studies and a Master of Business Administration from the Australian Graduate School of Management at the University of New South Wales.<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/antony-stinziani/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Antony Stinziani</a> - Chief Information Officer at the City of Gold CoastAntony Stinziani is the Chief Information Officer at the City of Gold Coast and is an experience Non-Executive Board Director .Originally from Canberra, Antony has worked in senior executive ICT roles for over 25 years across numerous government agencies including the CSIRO, Geoscience Australia, the Australian Parliament and the ACT Government. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of Carers ACT and Carers Australia, is a current mentor of the Women in IT Executive Mentoring (WITEM) program and is a member of the Women in ICT Committee (WIC).A﻿s the tech industry evolves and new more jobs in ICT emerging, Antony is particularly passionate about increasing the participation of women in tech and helping educate people on what a career in tech can look like. He is actively involved in leadership development for women in ICT, championing communities that support women in ICT, and often speaks at conferences and events on this topic.A﻿ntony holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in public sector management and ICT from the University of Canberra and is a Graduate of the Australia Institute of Company Directors and the Australian Graduate School of Management.We welcome all champions of diversity, manbassadors included!C﻿heck out this reel from our 2022 International Women's Day event

T﻿hank you to <a href="https://www.cisco.com/site/au/en/index.html" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Cisco</a> for powering this event.

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